All language subtitles for Marcus.Wareings.Tales.from.a.Kitchen.Garden.S02E09.1080p.WEBRip.x264-CBFM

A year has passed on my
East Sussex smallholding.

I've been spending more time out
of the kitchen and in the garden.

This helps me get away
from absolutely everything.

I mean, you can't not love this.

Come on!

I've had plenty of successes...

I've got a glut of ingredients
that I'm going to be sharing,

and that's a lovely thing.

..and a few failures, too.

I've just been to feed the pigs,
and they're not there.

But with the help of
my friends and neighbours...

Come on, Stu, get your back into it.

I thought farming
was just about animals.

No-one talks about fencing.

..I'm going to bring
in more produce...

I'm going to see if I can
get some wheat in the ground.

..more livestock...

I've never seen so much poo
in a field in all my life.

..and use every inch
of my land and garden...

Here we go first.
First Wareing potato.

It's hard work, but it's worth it.

..all year round.

You know autumn's
just around the corner

when the sun goes behind the clouds.

Because I know a better
understanding of ingredients...

So much more to learn,
so many new dishes to cook.

..will lead to some
incredible new recipes...

This place is on fire.

It just gets better
and better and better.

..as I discover
the secrets of a kitchen garden.

On my smallholding,

I'm lucky enough to have not
just produce in the kitchen garden,

but chickens in my orchard,

pigs in the woodland,
and ducks and geese on my pond.

But I find this is one of the areas
I really need to keep on top of.

Here we go.

Ohh...

So this morning,
I'm tackling the reeds.

Morning.

My biggest worry is that...

..what's going to happen year
after year if I don't do this?

I think what's going to happen is,
the pond is going to

just be completely
enclosed to a certain point.

It is quite shallow,

but I just don't want
the water space to disappear.

So if I just maybe
keep on top of it,

especially the bull rush,

then I'm doing my little bit.

Ducks are doing their bit.

Wildlife is doing their bit.

Whether it's helping
the residents of the pond

or feeding the cattle in the fields,

keeping animals is a
journey of discovery.

I would never have
done this a year ago.

I wouldn't have even got
close to these animals.

I wouldn't be standing here
as a scratch pad for a cow.

Most of this herd belongs
to my neighbour Stuart,

but I am lucky enough to own two of
these rare breed longhorns myself.

But they will go one day.

There's no two ways about that.
These are not pets.

But what I'm looking for
now is a different breed.

I want to try something different,

maybe bring something
else onto the land.

Now, we're in Sussex,
and the Red Sussex is a breed.

It's not a rare breed,
but I've heard a lot about it.

And I know the meat
is very, very good.

But I'd like to see how it compares,
you know, even with the longhorns.

I want to see the way they live,
what they're eating.

I just want to try and understand
the story of a Red Sussex.

So to find out if these cattle
might be the right choice

to expand my herd next year,

I'm travelling a short distance
to Buckhurst Park,

the ancestral seat
of the Delaware family.

The estate is home to
a herd of Sussexes

looked after by farm
manager Warren Weddell

and owned by the
11th Earl, William Sackville,

who I've previously met enjoying
a good meal in his country pub.

Morning. Good morning.

Wow. I have driveway envy.

So nice to see you again.
So nice to see you again.

It's quite breathtaking.
It really is.

You'll see some of views when we
look at the cattle. It's incredible.

The cattle,
that's what I'm here to see.

That's what I'm really here to see.
We've been here for 900 years.

Have you really?
And we'll keep on living here.

So you've not been here 900 years?

No, I haven't been here 900 years.
THEY LAUGH

Wow.

That's a lot of history.

It is absolutely stunning.

I'll give you a tour. Lead the way.

Are you going to cook some beef?

I might cook a little bit!

This herd are purebred
traditional Sussexes,

who are believed to date back
to the reddish-brown cattle

discovered by the Normans
after their 1066 conquest.

They're much rarer than
other commercial Sussex varieties,

in that they haven't been crossbred.

That's some view.

It certainly is, isn't it?
It is some view.

It's actually breathtaking.

I'm seeing cows in
the distance there. Are they...?

So they're ours over there,
to the beginning of the woods.

They look happy, don't they?
Yeah, a bit of rain at last.

The grass is starting
to come back. Yes.

Tell me about the Sussex.
Tell me about them.

Well, originally,
my grandfather had a dairy herd.

A prized dairy herd
was inherited by my father.

And it got to the point
where the price of milk

had fallen to such a degree,

we had to do
something to keep farming.

So we thought beef cattle,

and Sussexes, there was
a breeder living in Sussex.

How long have you had
the Sussexes on the land, though?

About 16 years ago.

16. Yeah.

Cos we used to farm it with
sort of more commercial cattle,

probably what you'd label
as a supermarket cow, perhaps. OK.

Not something like this,
that's sort of more...

It's more of a niche, isn't it?

Cos it's pedigree,
it's traditional, it's grass fed.

Traditional Sussex, it
was as low as about 160 170.

I think the fact that we've
increased ours this last 18 months

probably means
there's 200 breeding females.

That doesn't include
heifers or bulls or anything.

And that's a low number
of a traditional animal.

We're starting to sell our beef.
We're going to do a box scheme.

Start doing it ourselves.

What's really
interesting about your story

is that I've started
off with just a couple

and you become...
It becomes...infectious.

You know, just gently grow them
at your own pace, really,

which is pretty much what I'm doing.

We're trying to encourage
others to follow suit. Yeah.

Warren's taking me to
look at some older cattle,

and the first thing that
strikes me is the size of the herd.

I mean, the numbers aren't big,
what you're producing.

It's relatively quite small
in the scheme of things.

Yeah, it is at the moment.
We are gradually increasing.

We've got 24 here.

As we increase the herd, which we're
going to increase to about 100,

hopefully 100 calving,

we should be able to
keep the supply going.

So that group are nearer finished.

So that means that they're almost
ready to go to be processed.

They take longer to mature
cos they're only fed grass. Right.

Whether it be as hay, silage,
or grass they find outside.

This method of non-intensive farming

must have an effect on
the flavour of the meat.

So back in the
grounds of the main house,

Warren's got two Sussex steaks
for me to put to the test.

A sirloin and a ribeye.

I love the way
you're handing me this.

These look beautiful.

Right. I'll tell you what,
I'm going to put those there.

There we go.

Pepper.

In we go.

So this one is a sirloin.

And here's the ribeye.

Now we just sort of sit and wait.

It's going to be worth
waiting for, I can tell.

I think, as you can see,
I've only seasoned one side too,

just the side you're cooking.

And then what we'll do is, we'll
season this as we turn it over.

If you start to put the salt on now,

it'll start to draw the
blood and the moisture out.

So only season the side
that you're about to seal.

The most important thing
is maintaining the lovely heat.

Then the salt.

Smells good.

It does.

Just sear them nicely. There we go.

I'm just going to put that one
on there to rest a little.

Yeah. Do you eat a lot of this?
Yeah. You do?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Do you actually taste it and think,
"I could change that"?

Or you're happy with
what you've got?

No. Yeah, I do.

The fact it's grass fed, for me,
is what makes the difference.

They're out.

Just going to let those
just sit for a second.

I'm not going to waste
that fat there.

I've cooked in some beautiful
settings and some fabulous kitchens

and restaurants and
hotels around the world,

but I don't think I've ever cooked
with a backdrop quite like that.

It's incredible, isn't it?
That's quite special. Yeah.

I think it's time to taste.

Let's go with the sirloin first.

Have a little slice. There we go.

Thank you.

Mm.

Mmm...

Wow. What can I say?

The juices coming out
of it are lovely.

For a piece of meat that's
not had much time to rest,

it's so tender.

It is amazing.

Wow. That is incredible.

Not even an earl can resist
the smell of a perfect steak.

Come and tell us what you think.

I'm very much
looking forward to this.

It's not often
that we have a chef...

..doing our cooking for us.

When you come and meet
the supplier, the producers,

and you see their
love for what they do,

the proof is always
going to be in the eating.

It must be the cooking.

All I can say.
It's the best bit of beef...

..I've had for quite a long time.

And I've just eaten something
that was absolutely outstanding.

Outstanding in every way.

And I would love to see some
of the Sussexes on my land.

So good I'll have another bit,
I think.

Be my guest. Cheers.

Cheers. Wow.

So as I travel back to
my corner of the county,

I think that the Sussex has
made itself a definite contender

to be added to my herd next year.

But it's not just the livestock
I've got to plan for.

In the orchard, there's a glut of
Comice pears that need harvesting.

I inherited these. These were
already here when I got here.

Never really had a
great deal of luck with them,

and I've noticed
quite a lot of the pears

are going rotten on the branch.

But before they start to go rotten
or drop to the ground

because they're not great,
I'm picking them

because I want to do
something with them.

These could go into ice cream.

They could become chutneys,
they can become a pear puree,

they could just be pickled
pears with cheese.

So many different things
I can do with them.

But the most important thing
is preserving them.

You know, with a cheeseboard,
some pickled pear -

yeah, that would
be absolutely fabulous.

What I'm going to be using, I've
got some water, white wine vinegar,

some peppercorns, sugar, ginger.

And I'm also just going to put
in a few little sticks of vanilla,

cos the vanilla
and the ginger with pears

is absolutely sensational.

So we're going to crack on.
I'm going to peel these down.

You can leave the
skin on if you want,

but I'm going to peel them off now.

I'm not a big fan
of the skin of a pear.

I find it sometimes quite tough.

It will soften up.

But for what I'm going
to be using it for,

which are going to be
for chutney on a cheeseboard

or within a cake,
I don't need the skin.

So now water.

And white wine vinegar.

I've got a ratio of two to one.

Two parts vinegar to one part water.

You want to bring
that up to the boil.

Add in our sugar.

Some salt.

Just bring that up to the boil
so that the sugar and salt dissolve.

And I'm going to
add some peppercorns.

But the real flavour's going to be
the vanilla and the ginger,

that's going to work beautifully
well with the white wine vinegar

and the seasonings.

I love ginger.

It's a fabulous ingredient.

Take out our vanilla,
and always with a vanilla pod,

what you need to do is
you need to get seeds out.

So from top to bottom.

If you ever use vanilla,
always cut it in half

to release all of the seeds.

Scrape them out.

It's like a microscopic
version of almost caviar.

You don't want to
put that into there.

As soon as the
vanilla hits hot water,

it activates and starts to
bring all that beautiful flavour

into the pickling liquid.

The scraped-out vanilla pods go
into the jars for extra flavour.

They'll continue their magic.

In goes the ginger.

And then my peeled pears.

Now for our liquid.

Now, that may look a little
bit cloudy and a bit murky,

but that is just flavour.

Lid on.

Nice and tight.

That hot liquid is now
starting to do its magic.

Peppercorns, vanilla,
ginger and the vinegar.

Pears preserved for another day.

When I'm not cooking or
working in the kitchen garden,

I love spending time by the pond.

And although I'm thrilled with
all the animals we've introduced,

I also want to make sure it's as
wildlife friendly as possible.

So I've invited round pond
management expert Deborah Reynolds

to give me some tips on making
the most of this special area.

I think it's trying to understand
what the rights and wrongs

of an area like this,
what I should be doing,

what I shouldn't be doing.
I've got a lot of questions. OK.

So I really don't
know where to begin.

So, first of all, pond dipping,
it's just a process of seeing

what life you have in your pond.

Right. And so it gives you
a really good idea of how well

your pond is providing for wildlife.

So you can tell me, just by pond
dipping, looking at what's here,

if this is a good...?
If we've done OK.

Absolutely.

If you keep the net open
at all times and maybe

just do a sweep one direction
and then turn around

and do a sweep the other,

and then we'll empty it
into our tray and see

what you find in
the open water sections. OK.

Try not to scoop the silt.
That's it.

Turn it underwater? Uh-huh.

In the UK, it is up to about
4,000 different invertebrate species

that you'd find in ponds,
in an aquatic environment.

In a standard pond,
you might expect to maybe get

about 100 different species out.

What do I do now?

We will tip your findings into here.

I see a few things moving.

You can.
So they are a water boatman.

You have a water boatman in there,
and they're phantom midge larvae.

There's a lot in there. Uh-huh.

What's their purpose?

Both are part of the food chain,
really.

Some of them will be detritivores,

so they'll eat the decaying matter.

Others, you know,
provide a food supply for others.

There's not much in this one,

but Deborah wants
to take a second dip

in a more densely vegetated area.

And en route, she points out
a habitat I wasn't aware of.

Oh, wow. Look at that. Snakeskin.

There we go.
That's very, very impressive.

The skins from a grass snake,
which can grow up to six feet long.

They're great swimmers.

And the fact it's chosen
my pond is a great sign.

That's a good thing.

OK, and then we'll just see how this
compares to the open water.

Can I pass that up to you?
Absolutely.

Believe it or not, I'm stuck.

Golly.

We've got some biters in there.
Look at that.

What is that?

So that's a greater water boatman.

God, there's loads of those things.

These are really different. Yes.

I challenge you to hold one
on your finger. No, thank you.

Will the nip us? They will do. Yeah.

Oh, look. There we go. Exciting.

There we go. In that corner there,
we have a dragonfly nymph.

Depending on what species they are,
will live in there for anything

from two, three months up
to three years, some of them.

And they are absolutely
voracious predators.

They'll take anything on.

There we go. See that little one
wriggling around there?

Mmm. That is a damselfly nymph.

It's funny, now that
it's settled... It comes alive.

..it just comes to life. Mm-hm.

That's fabulous.
You should be very, very happy.

I'll take that as success, then.

From my point of view,
from my side, it's now...

What I would like to know is,
what can I do to improve it?

Because I'm really excited
about the things that I'm changing.

So you might want to, like, think
about putting a fallen tree...

..maybe leaning into your pond,
because that provides an incredibly,

you know, unique habitat in its own
right. It creates shade in there.

What about the birds
and the wildlife? Absolutely.

It really is that shallow edges
where you'll get your birds.

Washing their feathers is critical

to their health
and keeping those clean.

Allowing it to grow out
and not worrying too much

about controlling it.

A big area behind your pond,
you could let just go wild

and treat as a meadow.

And that would create fantastic
cover for movement of newts,

amphibians and toads
through your garden.

I feel like the
problem with this garden,

or this part of the farm area,
is me.

I'm the one on the lawnmower.
I'm the one that keeps cutting back.

I have let it grow in the past.

But I do like the way you talk
about connecting that rewilding area

and maybe allowing that, next year,
to grow towards the pond

and sort of connect it.
That's just wonderful to hear.

There's no reason why this
can't become your meadow here.

The jobs just don't end, do they?
They don't end.

Beautiful isn't about
perfectly mowed lawns.

Beautiful is about being wild

and allowing the
wildlife to do its thing.

We just all need to learn
how to work together,

which is a massive change for me,

but it's a change that
I'm thoroughly enjoying.

There's always so much
for gardener Anatoli and I to do

around the smallholding,

but managing the lavender
is a job I love

and one that's full of memories.

This fabulous row of lavender.

This is probably one
of my favourite herbs,

flowers, I absolutely adore it.

It just reminds me of France

and holidays in France
and going working in Paris.

And so when I came here,
I bought lots and lots and lots

and lots of little lavender plants
which have become very, very big.

So we're just trimming it back.

And even though this still may be
a little bit early in the season,

there's plenty here for the
for the bees and for the wildlife.

Anatoli, you've always
talked about the lavender

as being really good for the bees.

Yes. They like to forage
on it for the nectar.

And honey also tastes different
as well. Yeah? Lavender honey.

And what I'm doing, what I'm going
to do with this batch here,

I want to cut them back and I'm
going to tie them up

into lovely bunches, and I'm going
to use them as little gifts.

So whenever I'm giving anybody some
tomatoes or a box of something,

you know,
lavender is like potpourri.

It's a lovely fragrance.
It's a lovely smell.

Even when it's dried out,
it still has that lovely aroma.

And so, for me, it's not just about
when it's living here in a garden,

it's what it does afterwards.

Not only does it smell great,
it's a flavour, it's a seasoning.

It's something that you can
sprinkle on top of your salad

or into a dressing.

A small area, maybe four very,
very small little lavender plants

that I bought from a garden centre
a couple of years ago -

look at what I've got out of that.

That's incredible.

And can be used in
so many different ways.

A busy day of jobs
is a guaranteed way

of working up a healthy appetite.

And with Stuart hard at it
in the field next door,

I'm going to treat us both
to a Sussex steak sandwich

with a bacon, bourbon
and chilli jam.

First, we're going to
start with our bourbon jam.

We're going to get that under way.

I've got some little bacon lardons
here already cut up.

And I've got this
beautiful pancetta,

which I'm just going
to quickly cut up, too.

And that just gives the sauce
just a touch of texture.

Of course,
whenever you're cooking bacon,

you don't need any fat in the pan.

There's enough fat in the meat
for it to do its thing.

Just get those in.

And get that onto the fire.

And as you can see...

..a little bit of
colour on your bacon.

You pancetta has kept its shape.

Just leave that sitting there.

Next, I'm peeling
and dicing some onion.

You can still see I've got
the pan nice and hot.

Now we can drop our onions.

We've got the bacon fat in the pan,
which is all adding flavour.

And as you can see, you can already
see the onions turning colour.

That is the fat
and the bacon coming out.

Pepper.

What we're doing now
is using the bacon fat

and those little yummy bits that
stick into the bottom of the pan -

that's going to be the base,
the oil that we sweat our onions in.

Now I'm peeling
and chopping some garlic.

In that goes.

Now on to our chillies.

Cut them in half.

Because we've got quite
a bit of sugar in this jam,

I'm going to leave the seeds
of the chillies inside,

because I think the heat
will complement the sweetness

of the sugar, the maple syrup,

then, of course,
just that lovely little hit

of bourbon whiskey at the end there.

Now we can put our
chilli in with our onions.

And as you can see,
that's beautifully sweated down.

Now I'm adding that
all-important bourbon.

And that just gives
that lovely malt flavour

that you get from
a great bourbon whiskey.

I'm adding some dark brown sugar

and some maple syrup.

What will happen now is
this will just gently cook down,

and that sugar will start to
take over with the whiskey

and start to come
and turn itself into a jam.

I'm now adding the bacon
and pancetta back into the pan.

Remember, we're making a jam,
so it is going to be sweet,

and that's what
the sugar's doing now.

But you can taste the bacon. You can
taste the heat of the chilli.

But, of course,
this is a savoury sauce.

It's not jam as we know it.

It's not just sweet.

It's sweet and savoury.

Now on to our steak.

Beautiful sirloin steak.

Absolutely perfect for
this type of sandwich.

I'm scoring the fat to prevent
the steak curling when it's cooking.

And once it's oiled, I'm rubbing
in the mix of salt and paprika,

chilli flakes and peppercorns.

So what I'm doing is,
I'm just massaging it into the meat,

and it's going to be a very,
very quick heat on the grill.

So I've got my grill
as hot as I can get it

so I can get it beautifully
charred on the outside,

and that can go
straight onto the grill.

Our jam is just
beautifully cooking down.

And the jam is
starting to get thicker

as the sugar starts to caramelise.

There we go.
There's our bacon jam.

Look how shiny that has become.

Wow. Smells incredible.

Oh, wow.

It's sweet...with a serious
kick in the background.

A kick in the throat, actually.

Once you've sealed
all the four sides of your steak,

just keep turning them around.

Don't let them burn too much.

Getting a really good searing
on the outside is the key.

The steaks are ready,
so I'm leaving them to rest.

Right, now onto my bread.

So I'm just going to cut
this straight in half,

and then I'm going to oil it.

Massage that in.

Cut open some garlic.

Just rub that over
your bread and toast it.

OK. Now we can
assemble our sandwich.

I've got a little
bit of Dijon mustard

and just a little bit
of mayonnaise, too,

but I always quite like,
at the bottom of the sandwich,

just a little bit of mustard.

Just that little
bit of surprise heat.

Now we can cut our steak.

Now our bacon jam.

Some of my lovely rocket.

Little dollops of mayonnaise.

All right,
I'd better go and find Stuart.

He's a lucky guy.

Here we are.

Oh, wow.
I've made a couple of little...

No, not little sandwiches.
That is not a sandwich.

That's a sandwich.
Wow. Go on, grab one.

Thank you very much.

I'm very excited about the future.
I'm very excited about expanding.

I'm very excited of working
alongside fabulous people

like Stuart.

I couldn't think of
a better person to have by my side

when it comes to rearing animals.

That is good.

That's all right, isn't it? Mm.

So, I think, for me, having
the Red Sussex on the land is

certainly something I want to do.

And I think it's the
plan for the future.

Bacon jam? That is amazing.

It's sweet... How can you make jam
out of bacon? Ah!

But there's nothing
quite like the Red Sussex,

from what I've tasted so far.

There you go,
I even got you a napkin.

I bring everything.

I'm always looking
for the very, very best,

no matter where it comes from
around the country.

But the Red Sussex is
right here on my doorstep.

And I think that's
where it should stay,

and I think that's
where it should be.